Mariah Dawson

Toddler died at hands of abusive mother

July 8, 2010

CROWN POINT | After her toddler's death last September, Maya Levee Willis allegedly told the child's former baby sitter the 19-month-old succumbed to a seizure.

But in pursuing murder charges against the 31-year-old Willis, police claim a substance found in the dent of a wall in Willis' apartment matches the child's DNA profile.

Lake County prosecutors charged Willis, of East Chicago, on Tuesday with murder, two counts of battery and four counts of neglect of a dependent.

According to a seven-page probable cause affidavit filed in Lake Superior Court, Willis is charged with repeatedly abusing and finally killing her daughter, Mariah Dawson, one of four children born to Willis by as many men.

The court document depicts Mariah as an unwanted child who, in her resemblance to her father, drew her mother's rage.

An autopsy report shows the child died of head injuries and blunt force trauma to the body. Contributing factors included vaginal and rectal injuries consistent with sexual abuse, according to the pathologist's report. Multiple old scars covered her body.

East Chicago Police Chief Gus Flores said Wednesday the allegations are among the worst to have crossed his desk.

Flores described Willis as almost 6 feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds.

"This is among the saddest, most disgusting cases I've ever read," Flores said of the documents prepared to launch the case.

"I can't imagine the hell this poor child lived through," Flores said about the child's injuries. "She appears to have been old enough to know what was happening to her."

The child's condition came to light when police were called Sept. 30, 2009, to the emergency room at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, where the child was declared dead, the court documents show.

The child is described as covered with bruises, scars and marks all over her body, including a big bump on the back of her head, a laceration to the lower lip and a cut and bleeding gum line.

Further examinations revealed vaginal swelling, anal trauma and a distended abdomen.

In statements to police, Willis said the child fell in a hallway and began crying. Willis said she later noticed the child's left side was "paralyzed looking." The child appeared to stop breathing in the car as she drove to the hospital, she told authorities.

Willis denied causing any of the fresh injuries, though she is alleged to have admitted to disciplining the child by "popping her on the hands and legs with a plastic spaghetti or pasta scooper and with a short piece of belt."

Police recovered two belts with similar markings to ones found on Mariah's back, the court documents state.

Willis is alleged to have explained burn scars on the child's back and head to a set of hot curlers falling on the child.

Willis later changed her story by telling investigators the child's fatal injury stemmed from a fall from a bunk bed.

Willis' remaining three children are in state custody, according to court documents.

Candie Worthman

Man on parole in homicide arrested in killing

Gary suspect charged in fatal shooting of E.C. woman

by DAN HINKEL
dhinkel@nwitimes.com
219.933.4183 | Posted: Wednesday, September 3, 2008 12:00 am

A man accused of killing a woman early Sunday in East Chicago was arrested Tuesday when he reported to his parole officer from a previous homicide conviction, police said.

Gaylon C. Washington Jr., 31, of Gary, faces a murder charge based on accusations he shot Candie Worthman, 23, in the head early Sunday morning outside an apartment in East Chicago near Indiana Harbor, according to court documents.

Washington also faces charges of intimidation and pointing a loaded gun. Washington threatened to kill a witness to Worthman's shooting, said East Chicago Police Chief Angelo Machuca Jr. Washington was being held without bail at the Lake County Jail on Tuesday.

He pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in 2003 after a murder charge was dismissed, according to court records. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, according to court records.

Washington was waiting at 3 a.m. Sunday outside a dilapidated apartment building in the 3400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, according to court records. Worthman arrived and argued with Washington, police said. Washington told Worthman to back down, and when she did not, he shot her in the head, according to court records.

"Words were exchanged, and it seems like he didn't like what was being said to him, and he shot her, shot the victim in the face," Machuca said.

Police found Worthman, of the nearby 3500 block of Guthrie Street, bleeding in the street, and investigators picked up a .32-caliber shell casing nearby, according to court records.

Worthman was pronounced dead at the scene, said a spokesman for the Lake County coroner's office.

Candie's death was noted as part of a violent holiday weekend in the Chicago area, in which 19 people lost their lives or critically injured.

See Candie's obituary here.

Elijah Harris

Hammond couple charged in toddler's beating death

July 31, 2007 (WLS) -- A Northwest Indiana couple is charged in connection with the beating death of a toddler.

Twenty-three-month-old Elijah Harris died last Thursday after suffering traumatic brain injuries at a home in Hammond.  The child's mother, 29-year-old Angela Burgher , and the boy's stepfather, Dennis Burgher, each face four counts of child neglect.  Investigators say the toddler also had scalding burns on his body.

The mother and stepfather remained in custody Tuesday night.

Also:

CROWN POINT | Angela Burgher unfolded a crinkled piece of yellow paper Wednesday and read her apology for the circumstances leading up to her son's death.

The East Chicago woman's son, Elijah Harris, died in July 2007 of severe trauma to the head. He would have celebrated his second birthday a month later.

"I'm sorry to my children for not making better choices and decisions for them," Burgher said Wednesday in a shaky voice.

Burgher was sentenced Wednesday to an agreed term of 10 years in prison for felony child neglect that led to Elijah's death.

The 21-year-old woman, who also has another child, pleaded guilty in April in return for Lake County prosecutors dropping five other felony charges that included battery and neglect of a dependent.

Burgher admitted to watching her husband, Dennis Burgher, strike her son, Lake Criminal Court records show. She said she also noticed blisters and burns on Elijah's body but didn't do anything to get him help.

Angela Burgher also admitted she heard a "thump" while getting ready for work and found Elijah's body crumpled on the basement floor with Dennis Burgher standing nearby.

Dennis Burgher told her Elijah fell down the stairs, court records state. Angela Burgher left for work as usual.

Emergency responders to the Burghers' home said they found bruises to Elijah's forehead, lesions on both sides of his neck and untreated second-degree burns to his buttocks and groin. He wasn't breathing at the time, police said.

Both Burgher and her now estranged husband, Dennis, were charged with multiple felonies relating to Elijah's death.

Dennis Burgher, who was Elijah's stepfather, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony neglect of a dependent.

He admitted to failing to seek medical attention for Elijah after he saw the little boy's injuries. Dennis Burgher did not admit to any abuse or violence.

Jennifer Montejano

Woman Delivers Healthy Baby After Being Shot, Then Dies

25-Year-Old's Other 3 Children At Home During Shooting

January 8, 2007

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. -- A 25-year-old pregnant Indiana woman who was reportedly shot accidentally in the face by her boyfriend and then delivered a healthy baby girl late last month has died. (See update below)

Jennifer Montejano, of 3825 Elm St., in East Chicago, Ind. was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m. Sunday at St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields, according to a spokesman from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

The shooting occurred Thursday, Dec. 28 when her boyfriend Fabian Gomez, 22, of Hammond, told authorities he had bought a box of bullets to fire on New Year's Eve, but accidentally shot Montejano during an argument in her Indiana Harbor apartment.

Despite being shot, she delivered a healthy 5-pound, 9-ounce baby girl at an Olympia Fields hospital an hour after the shooting.

Montejano, who was eight months pregnant, suffered a .38-caliber gunshot wound next to her nose. Montejano's three young children were in the apartment when the shooting occurred, police said.

Information regarding charges was not immediately available Monday morning.

UPDATE:

Murder Charge Filed Eight Months After Pregnant Woman Dies
By the Associated Press
9/29/2007

The boyfriend of a pregnant woman who was shot in the face now faces a murder charge in connection with her death.

Fabian Gomez, 23, of Whiting also is charged with aggravated battery, battery and criminal recklessness. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter announced the new charge Friday.

Jennifer Montejano, 25, of East Chicago was eight months pregnant when she was shot Dec. 28, suffering a .38-caliber gunshot wound that left her in a coma for more than a week before she died.

The night she was shot, doctors delivered a 5-pound, 9-ounce girl by emergency Caesarean section.

Gomez told police he had bought a new box of bullets to fire on New Year's Eve but accidentally shot Montejano during an argument in her apartment.

The victim's family said earlier this year that they wanted murder charges filed against Gomez.